Bayh to headline N.C. event

Schedule booked, but no word on a presidential run.

Schedule booked, but no word on a presidential run.

January 30, 2006|SHAILAGH MURRAY and CHRIS CILLIZZA The Washington Post

Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will head to the backyard of one of his potential 2008 Democratic primary opponents this spring -- in a bit of political gamesmanship that will be duly noted by the community of presidential politics junkies and duly ignored by everyone else. Bayh is scheduled to headline the North Carolina Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner April 29, despite the fact that former Tar Heel State Sen. John Edwards is an all-but-announced 2008 candidate. Edwards and Bayh were both elected to the Senate in 1998 and became friends -- often running together on Capitol Hill. The two men have much in common: good looks, young families and a belief that they should be the country's next commander in chief. The North Carolina event is one of a series of speeches, fundraisers and appearances on the Indiana Democrat's plate between now and the end of April as he seeks to make his presidential case to the many wings of the Democratic Party. Bayh spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said that despite all the activity, his boss has not made any decision about 2008 and will not do so until after the November midterm elections. In the meantime, Pfeiffer said, Bayh "has a lot of ideas about how to fix Washington and make America better" that he will share with Democrats across the country. Bayh will headline a fundraiser for the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee on Wednesday and will address the United Auto Workers conference in Washington Feb. 7. Bayh will also be the keynote speaker at an American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy dinner in Washington March 6 and, a week later, will be in Georgia to speak at that state's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner. And, careful not to ignore the critical caucus state of Iowa, Bayh will be in the Hawkeye State Feb. 11-13. During that time, he'll appear at the Linn County Phoenix Club dinner in Cedar Rapids, raise cash for the Iowa Senate Democrats' campaign fund, and speak to the state House and state Senate Democratic caucuses. Most Democratic strategists believe that Bayh, a Midwesterner, must make a splash in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses if he hopes to have any real chance at wresting the nomination from Edwards or New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, widely presumed to be planning a candidacy. Bayh appears well on his way to proving that he can compete with the top-tier 2008 Democrats on the fundraising front. He raised $3.1 million in 2005 for his personal campaign committee and ended the year with $9.5 million in the bank -- every cent of which can be transferred to a presidential account. In his leadership political action committee -- All America PAC -- Bayh brought in an additional $1.5 million in the past 12 months and had nearly $820,000 in the bank, as of Dec. 31. Those dollars can't be moved to a presidential committee but can pay for his political travel.